In response to today’s vote by Republicans on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee to impose permanent 5% base budget reductions, Senate Democratic Leader Melissa Wintrow released the following statement:
“This is a devastating day for Idahoans. Republicans are using the budget to serve the few, and sticking everyone else with the consequences.
“They created this crisis. They blew apart the structural balance of the budget with tax giveaways for the richest Idahoans and profitable corporations, then turned around and demanded working families, our public schools, and people with disabilities cover the tab. They won’t restore revenue. They won’t ask the top to pay their fair share. They cut, and regular Idahoans suffer.
“Republicans are pretending this is about balancing the budget. It’s not. These permanent cuts are the playbook for future rollbacks of services Idahoans value, including our schools, public safety, and health care. They know they can’t openly repeal Medicaid expansion because Idahoans already decided that question. So the plan becomes death by a thousand cuts, starving it through the budget until services fail by design and families pay the price.
“Even worse, they won’t even face the people they’re hurting. This week, hundreds of Idahoans packed the Lincoln Auditorium and overflow rooms, including caregivers and parents of children with disabilities, asking to be heard about what cuts are already doing and what deeper cuts will mean. Too many Republican lawmakers didn’t show up. Days later, they voted to make these cuts permanent anyway.
“Meanwhile, the giveaways stay protected. Tax breaks for the wealthy and the $50 million private-school voucher law remain untouched, while everything else takes permanent cuts. This is not responsible budgeting. It’s a betrayal of working families, and Idahoans should demand better.”
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